Baseball became America’s pastime almost immediately from the sport’s inception.

The game’s greatness shines for several reasons. The methodical pace of play between pitcher and catcher, as well as batter and fielder, allow for easy conversation among friends.

The baseball season itself begins in the spring, coinciding in time with nature’s yearly rejuvenation, and continues through summer when the weather is dry and the days are long enough to play two.

The creation of the sport is itself a tale of American folklore, and Americans are wary to trudge on the sagas of their history.

It also doesn’t hurt that certain men named Cobb, Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, Mantle, Musial and DiMaggio, along with so many others, brought a heroic presence to the lives of millions, through both the best and worst times of our nation’s history.

From roaring economic excess to crashing stock markets, there was baseball. From World Wars to Pleasantville and back to war again, there was baseball.

From radios to broadband, streetcars to subways, and megaphones to smartphones, there was baseball.

With that sublime inspiration, there also comes a callous reality to the game.

How else can you describe a sport where the very best hitters fail seven out of every ten times they enter the batter’s box? Or where the very best teams leave the park losers at least sixty times during the season?

As great as baseball is, it is a sport surrounded, cloaked and otherwise ensconced in failure.

Failure does bring one thing that success rarely does — a chance for introspection. When it comes to developing one’s self, a little humility and modesty can go a long way towards true growth as a person.

Baseball gives us that proverbial chance to get up, dust ourselves off — no matter the circumstance or score — and try, try again.

However, the game (and life) are not always kind to its members. For a select few in the game's history, their greatness was never fully realized.

Honorable Mentions

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Satchel Paige: Baseball's color barrier kept this pitching great from reaching the MLB until he was 41 years old. Amazingly, Paige still had five seasons left in the tank and won All-Star recognition at the ages of 45 and 46. As a Negro Leaguer, Paige won twice as many games as he lost and had a career WHIP of 0.95, according to Baseball-Reference.com. He struck out almost a batter per inning and finished over half of the games he started. Paige would be much higher on this list, if it didn't seem so appropriate for his legacy that we don't speculate too much as to how he would have dominated the majors.

Eric Davis: From 1986-90, Davis averaged 30 home runs and 40 steals per season, in addition to winning three Gold Gloves. He sparked a World Series sweep of the Oakland A's by homering in his first at-bat of Game 1 in 1990. Imagine what could have been for the elegant, slick-fielding Davis before injury after injury cut short what should have been the prime seasons of his career. Davis spent the 1995 season in "retirement" before returning for one more stint in the major leagues. That too was derailed after he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997. Davis missed most of that season but recovered and played four more, hitting 28 home runs with a .327 average in 1998 at the age of 36.

Rick Ankiel: Which career of Ankiel should we discuss as the one cut short? The one where he retires from pitching at just 24, after starting 30 games, winning 11, and striking out 194 batters in 175 innings as a 20-year-old? Or the one where he doesn't make his debut as a hitter until 27? If Ankiel had the determination and focus so many of the names on this list have, he could either have been a superstar starting pitcher or a powerful run-producing bat. Instead, Ankiel is a hitter who never had enough seasoning to make it big as a hitter and a pitcher who personifies the question, "What if?"

23. Bob Feller

While most young men spend their high school and college years actually, you know, in high school and college, Bob Feller instead spent those years dominating American League hitters.

By the time Feller was 23, he was already a grizzled MLB veteran of six seasons.

From 1939 to 1941, Feller won 76 games, leading the league in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts each season.

All of this between the ages of 20 and 22.

After 1941, Feller didn't pitch again in the majors until the very end of the 1945 season.

Due to a little thing called World War II. Feller became the first athlete to enlist in the Army two days after the Pearl Harbor attacks.

Feller missed four of his prime pitching seasons serving in combat, and while his service to our country was indisputable, it was a shame for baseball fans

Feller finished his career with 266 wins and 2,581 strikeouts. Missing those four seasons probably cost Feller 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts. Those numbers would have made him on the cusp of the top-five overall in MLB history for those categories.

20. Roy Campanella

Roy Campanella brought power and hitting prowess to a position that had never seen anything like it before with any previous catcher.

Campanella had four 30-plus home run seasons and led the league in RBI with 142 in 1953. He was an eight-time All-Star and won three MVP awards, second only to Barry Bonds' seven.

Campanella didn't begin his MLB career until he was 26, missing his first few potential seasons due to baseball's color barrier.

The end of Campanella's career was also tragically cut short in an automobile accident after the 1957 season.He broke his neck and damaged his spinal cord in the accident, paralyzing him from the shoulders down.

He was past his prime playing years at the time of the accident. However, he was only one year removed from his last All-Star appearance and only two years from his last MVP award.

But for ten years, there was no better hitting catcher than Campanella.

19. J.R. Richard

Only the most dedicated baseball historians know the story of J.R. Richard.

Richard should have retired as the best pitcher in Astros history, leading the franchise in every important statistical category.

He averaged over 16 wins during his first five full seasons with the Astros, and he was well on his way to another 20-win season in 1980.

Before a July game during that 1980 season, Richard suffered a stroke on the field, effectively ending his professional career.

This couldn't have came at a worse time for Richard, as he was at the height of his game, having just earned his first All-Star selection. Richard was 10-4 at the time with a 1.90 ERA.

For a Houston Astros franchise that has seen the likes of Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Roy Oswalt, Joe Niekro and Larry Dierker take the mound, Richard still holds the single-season franchise record for strikeouts (313).

Richard also has the second-lowest earned run average in franchise history (minimum 1,000 innings), earning an NL-low 2.71 ERA in 1979. He still remains third overall for the Astros franchise in career strikeouts.

17. Curt Flood

The story of Curt Flood is one that must be told over and over for future generations of baseball fans.

Flood is to modern-day baseball players what Jackie Robinson was to African-American players in the mid-1900s.

Flood was a trailblazer in every sense of the word, and it cost him his career at the apex of his prime.

After winning six consecutive Gold Gloves, while maintaining a .300 batting average, as the center fielder for the two-time World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, Flood was traded in a seven-player deal to Philadelphia in 1969.

The rest is history. Flood refused to report to the Phillies, claiming that MLB's reserve clause was unfair as it kept players chained to their teams for life.

Flood challenged baseball's powers in court. He lost.

Future baseball players won, however, as MLB eventually opened to the idea of free agency and allowed players who had 10 years of MLB service (five with the same team) to veto any trade.

15. Mark Prior

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As quickly as a 21-year-old Mark Prior took the city of Chicago and the National League by storm, winning 18 games while striking out 245 batters in 211 innings in 2003, he seemingly vanished from the game.

Well, Prior's demise wasn't as dramatic as that statement implies, but he does epitomize the concept of unfulfilled talent.

As one half of a dominant starting pitching tandem with Kerry Wood, Prior helped lead the Cubs to a division title in 2003.

Over the next two seasons, Prior battled an assortment of injuries from Achilles tendon problems to a fractured elbow.

He faithfully took the ball when asked, making 48 starts in between stints on the disabled list over the 2004 and 2005 seasons. But he never again approached his 2003 form.

Shoulder problems ultimately kept Prior off the pitching mound, and but for a few starts at the beginning of the 2006 season, Prior has not made a single appearance for a major league club.

Since 2006, he has attempted comebacks with several franchises, signing incentive-laden deals, minor league contracts and even trying the independent leagues.

Right now, he is currently attempting yet another return to the game, this time with a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

14. Josh Hamilton

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Only those who have been banished to Siberia do not know the story of Josh Hamilton.

Less than a month after his 18th birthday, Hamilton was drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Rays in 1999. Hamilton spent the first handful of years of his professional career battling drug and alcohol abuse.

He never appeared in a major league game for the Rays.

Hamilton, in fact, did not play baseball at all from 2004 to 2006, stuck between rehab stints and suspensions.

It wasn't until Hamilton was 26 that he made his major league debut. Despite a few turns on the disabled list, Hamilton has not disappointed his team or fans.

Hamilton's reached 90 RBI in a season four times, including a league-leading 130 in 2008.

Hamilton won the MVP award in 2010, leading the AL in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS.

Hamilton has finally fulfilled his potential as a power hitter. Now imagine if Hamilton had begun his career four or five years earlier, like he was supposed to.

Common sense says that the poisons Hamilton riddled his body with will eventually take its toll on his long-term career health. So, enjoy the product now, baseball fans.

13. Darryl Kile

From a pitcher's point of view, if you can't hit the black with a 95 mph fastball, you need to be able to use deception to fool major league hitters.

Meet Darryl Kile.

Kile's curveball broke so sharply over the plate, that it set a new standard for those seeking that "12 to 6" hook.

Fast forward to June 22, 2002. Fast forward past the no-hitter thrown in 1993 and the 19-win season of 1997. Fast forward past the big free agent contract and the 20-win season in 2000.

On that sunny day in June, Kile failed to show up at Wrigley Field for an afternoon game against the Cubs.

Normally one of the first players to arrive at the stadium on game day, former Cardinals teammate and close friend Mike Matheny instantly knew something was wrong.

He was right: Kile didn't wake up that morning. He had died of a heart attack in his sleep.

Kile's Cardinals teammates dedicated the rest of the season to their fallen brother, DK57. And what a magical season it was.

The Cardinals fittingly won exactly 57 games after Kile's death to capture the Central Division crown. Kile's jersey received what can only be considered the largest champagne and beer celebration of all time.

Kile should have been there in person to help lead his team through the playoffs. Win or lose, he should have been there.

12. Kerry Wood

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Had there ever been a single, more dominant performance from a rookie pitcher than the one Kerry Wood threw in 1998 against the Astros?

In only his fifth career start, Wood tied the major league record of 20 strikeouts in throwing a one-hit complete game shutout, considered by some baseball historians as the finest pitching performance of all time.

In Wood's rookie season, he won 13 games, and struck out 233 batters in 166 2/3 innings, capturing the Rookie of the Year award.

That was the beginning of the end for Wood. He missed the following season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

11. Chris Carpenter

For a pitcher like Chris Carpenter, who has won multiple World Series championships, a Cy Young Award and an ERA title, it really is all about the career standings.

Carpenter has won 61 percent of his decisions over his 14-year career, but it didn't come without turmoil.

Carpenter missed an entire season and a half between 2002 and 2003 due to a torn labrum. However, he rebounded superbly over the next three seasons winning 51 games and losing only 18, while striking out 549 batters in 650 innings.

Again, Carpenter's career was sidelined due to injury, and he made only a handful of appearances in the 2007 (one start) and 2008 (three starts) seasons.

Carpenter rebounded successfully, finishing second in the Cy Young balloting in 2009, going 17-4, with a league-low 2.24 ERA.

Carpenter will miss the entire 2012 season recovering from yet another surgery, this time to repair thoracic outlet syndrome. No one knows if Carpenter will ever throw a pitch again.

Sit down for a second, and do the math. Those lost seasons easily cost Carpenter 70-75 wins, and probably close to 700 strikeouts.

Carpenter is the definition of a staff ace. He should have ended his career as MLB's active leader in wins and strikeouts, thus cementing what should have been a Hall of Fame career.

10. Fernando Valenzuela

What do you get when a rookie pitcher wins his first eight decisions, leads the league in strikeouts, innings pitched, complete games and shutouts, earns the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Silver Slugger awards, and goes 3-1 in the playoffs with two complete game victories en route to a World Series championship?

In a word: Fernando-mania!

For a city starving for winning baseball, Fernando Valenzuela came at the perfect time for Los Angeles.

A flamboyant, brash pitcher, Valenzuela took a city, and all of baseball, by storm as a 20-year-old in 1981.

He proved to be far from a one-trick pony, as he averaged 211 strikeouts per season while winning 99 games from 1982 to 1987.

Valenzuela's career took a nasty dive after the 1990 season, coinciding with his release from the Dodgers.

Valenzuela attempted a few comebacks, and even pitched in the Mexican league, missing all of the 1992 season. However, he never came close to approaching his success with Los Angeles.

8. Bo Jackson

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Between winning the Heisman Trophy, earning simultaneous All-Star selections in both the NFL and MLB, and being the all-knowing face of a nation-wide advertising campaign for Nike, Bo Jackson lived every kid's dream sports life.

Jackson played the game of baseball with a reckless abandon. In the field, Jackson attacked the baseball like a hunter attacks its prey.

At the plate, Jackson swung so ferociously that it was an act of cruel and inhuman punishment whenever he made contact with something, whether it the ball or with his leg after a strikeout.

Jackson didn't disappoint the Kansas City faithful, swatting 107 home runs in his four full seasons as a Royal.

The combination of playing both football and baseball for four consecutive seasons surely wore on Jackson, and when he injured his hip on a tackle in 1990, he was never the same.

Jackson's football career ended immediately, and he played only 23 games in 1991, while missing the entire 1992 MLB season.

Jackson stuck it out for two more partial seasons before retiring for good.

Who knows how many home runs Jackson would have hit had he never injured his hip, or if he never played football at all?

7. Dwight Gooden

Before Dwight Gooden could legally buy a beer in New York City, he had already become the toast of NYC.

How else can you explain a 41-13 record, 544 strikeouts in 495 innings and winning both the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in Gooden's first two seasons?

In 1985, Gooden might have put together one of the finest pitching seasons of all time. Twenty-four wins, a league-low 1.53 earned-run average, 0.965 WHIP and 16 complete games (with eight shutouts).

Gooden capped it off with a landslide victory in the Cy Young balloting.

By the end of Gooden's fifth major league season, at just 23, he had won 91 games, struck out over 1,100 batters, and seemed destined for the Hall of Fame.

But the cracks were already starting to show.

By 1997, Gooden had already tested positive for cocaine use, and in 1989, he was limited to just 17 starts, due to a shoulder injury.

Gooden lost much of the 1994 season due to suspension and stints in rehab for his drug problems. And when he tested positive again during the suspension, MLB suspended him for all of the 1995 season as well.

In 1996, Gooden returned to the game, this time as a Yankee, but the results were terrible.

Blame the drug use for ruining such a promising career.

Blame the injuries due to an extremely heavy workload early in Gooden's career.

In 1920, Jackson hit .382, and set career highs in home runs (12) and RBI (121). This was amidst allegations that he, along with seven other White Sox teammates, conspired to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series on payment from gamblers.

This was a World Series, mind you, in which Jackson hit .375 with a World Series record 12 hits.

Ultimately acquitted by a jury of any wrongdoing, Jackson was nonetheless banned from the game, along with the other seven.

Williams' post-military career began in 1946, and he did not miss a beat. From 1946 to 1951, Williams won two batting titles, two MVP awards, completed the Triple Crown and led the league multiple times in more categories than can be listed.

A broken arm in 1950 kept Williams from leading the American League in OPS for eight consecutive seasons.

Williams again missed most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons when he was called again to serve in the military during the Korean War.

That's five of Williams' best years gone. Just imagine where he'd find himself among the all-time leaders, had he been given the chance at a full career.

You can add some 170 home runs to his career total (521), putting him in Babe Ruth territory. Williams is also missing more than enough RBI and runs scored to make him the runaway career leader in both categories.

Instead of 2,654 hits, Williams career total should look more like 3,500. Instead of six batting titles, we should be talking about 10.